Analysis

As president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski was a very strong and outspoken supporter of Israel and of our local Jewish community.

Just recently he strongly opposed the Goldstone report, which is quite unusual for a European politician. He insisted on including our small but re-emerging Jewish community at all national ceremonies.

Senior Israeli officials are accusing both the left and right wing of sabotaging the Netanyahu government's relations with the US by leaking details of building plans in east Jerusalem.

As Mr Netanyahu was going to his meeting with President Obama on Tuesday, Israeli websites broke the story that the Jerusalem municipal planning council had given the final authorisation for a new building project on the site of the Shepherd's Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem.

Timing is everything. So why now? The expulsion of the Mossad's London Head of Station coincided with two things. Both tell us the UK is genuinely angry.

The Foreign Office stressed that throwing the diplomat out was nothing to do with the Jerusalem/West Bank settlements row. However, it knows Israel is under the spotlight and that at the moment all related matters are highlighted.

So while it is true to argue that the two things are separate, it is impossible to see one without the other.

What did Jews used to do whenever big tsures (troubles) came their way? They told jokes.

So today I am reminded of the Mossad agent who was sent on a mission to London, where he was supposed to meet his local contact, a certain Cohen.

The codeword for identifying each other was "White Rose". However, upon reaching the address, the Mossadnik realized that there were six Cohens living in the building. He punched the intercom of the first one and said "White Rose".

"Oh, you're looking for Cohen the spy," came the reply. "He lives on the fourth floor."

In January 2009 someone sent me a link to footage taken at one of the Gaza protests in London. Taken by a demonstrator, and 10 minutes long, it showed a thin cordon of policemen being, in effect, chased from the edge of Trafalgar Square to the Hyde Park end of Piccadilly.

For the entire distance, men with faces covered were throwing traffic cones, sticks and anything that came to hand at the retreating officers, while shouting "Run, you f**** cowards!" The only time this mantra changed was when the police, briefly, put up a fight, when the shout became "you racist bastards!"

Hiding the identity of its operatives abroad is more problematic for Israeli intelligence organisations than for their Western counterparts. An MI6 agent carrying out a mission in Dubai, for example, can simply use a genuine British passport, issued by the Home Office in a different name, and masquerade as one more holidaymaker. A Mossad agent in Dubai cannot do the same thing with an Israeli passport.

The use of foreign passports by Israeli agents has caused the country diplomatic problems in the past, when Western governments have been embarrassed by the use of their travel documents.

Media frenzy over the killing of Hamas activist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai is reaching its peak. The story has all the right ingredients for a cloak-and-dagger classic: suave men with dark glasses slipping in and out of luxury hotels, an elusive redhead lingering in shadowy corridors, exotic robe-clad police officials proudly presenting the results of their investigations.

If the frequency of high-level talks between Israel and the US is anything to go by, we seem to be in for a very tense period in the region. This week it was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, in Israel for talks with the heads of the defence establishment. Next week it is going to be Vice President Joe Biden.

Rabbi Shlomo Amar’s signature on a document limiting the power of rabbinical courts in Israel to annul conversions is a significant step in stemming the momentum of conversion annulments in Israel. But it fails to address the wider issues of non-recognition of conversions, particularly by Israeli marriage registrars — and, in that sense, falls short of expectations.